Top 11 Reasons Why K.FLAY is Awesome (Review/Photos/Video)

1. She’s got mad skillz. Let’s be real here, because this is what counts. The best thing about K. Flay is her flow, her clever lyrics, and her dorktastic indie reference points, all mashed into and up against simple, driving beats to nod your head to.

She’s a great remixer, and a prolific writer, spitting out home-grown EPs faster than you can say “So Fast, So Maybe”, one of the good ones live, along with “Messin With My Head” and “No, duh.” And as for indie cred? Best tracks at the Media Club are “We Hate Everyone” (a collab she did with Liam from The Prodigy), “Less Than Zero” (featuring a The XX sample) and “Stop, Focus”, (which has us, uh headbanging to bits of The Decemberists’ “The Wanting Comes in Waves/Repaid.”) See what I mean? Which brings us to…

2. …the fact that she’s bridged the Great Crossover. K.Flay’s got b-boy fanboys, hipsters, headbangers, good girls and hardcore rappers all drooling for her. No easy feat, it’s kind of what Die Antwoord’s managed and K is winning them wit and skill, not rats and ridiculous.

3. She’s got an amazing drummer out with her. Songs seem enormous live as Nick Suhr bashes out on drums and pads, earphone in so he can catch the loop. He’s an absolute pleasure to watch, and fills out the room beyond Flay’s Macbook. Astounding.

5. She’s nice. Whether’s she’s sweat-ily agreeing to throw us the rockhands while at SXSW or taking time to receive every cup of gush that the young b-boys throw on her after the show, Flay proves that you don’t have to be a dickhead to be a rapper.

6. She experiments, just gets it out there. She’s done a ton of EPs, a ton of remixes and a ton of really good videos. ONE EVEN HAS PUPPETS IN EM! Check ‘em all here.

7. She’s genuine. A track loop fucks up on stage, she just laughs, shrugs, calls it like she sees it. Her computer is giving her a hard time. Nae bother. She starts over again. Similarly…

8. She’s no bullshit. No fronting. No cheesy gold chains or ghetto “chic”. She’s just…a cool kid, with nice trainers and a Nixon watch, a dual degree in sociology and psychology from Stanford, who likes the Joy Formidable….and can rap at Warp Factor 11.

9. She works her ass off and is super high energy. Bounces high off her red kicks, headbangs, drums along with Suhr, lunges into the crowd. There might have been only 50 people in the crowd tonight but she performed as if there was 500. That’s style.

10. She does this thing with her tongue. You know how they say “spittin’ out rhymes”? K spends most of her time rapping with her tongue sandwiched between her upper and lower teeth, as if it’s she’s biting down on it. It’s kind of totally adorable and impossible to miss.